On May 4, 2020, the Federal Court Appointed Monitor James Ginger filed with the Federal Court his 11th Compliance Audit Report of the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) reforms mandated under the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA). The report covers the eleventh monitoring period from August 1, 2019 to January 31, 2020.

The Federal Monitor’s report is 307 pages long and follows the format as all the previous 10 reports. Its a detailed audit of every paragraph of the consent decree and for that reason it is difficult to follow. This blog article highlights major finding of the report but in no way should it be considered as all inclusive. The blog article also covers the city’s pending motion to suspend portions of the CASA and the accomplishments under the CASA. The article concludes with “Analysis and Commentary”.

The entire 11th Federal Monitors report can be found at this link:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-nm/file/1274006/download

OPERATIONAL COMPLIANCE LEVELS

The CASA was negotiated to be fully implemented over a four-year period. It has now been over 5 full years. Under the terms and conditions of the CASA, once APD achieves a 95% compliance rate in 3 compliance areas, and maintains compliance for 2 years, the case can be dismissed.

For the purposes of the APD monitoring process, “compliance” consists of three levels: primary, secondary, and operational compliance levels.

The 3 compliance levels are:

1. PRIMARY COMPLIANCE: Primary compliance is the “policy” part of compliance. To attain primary compliance, APD must have in place operational policies and procedures designed to guide officers, supervisors and managers in the performance of the tasks outlined in the CASA. As a matter of course, the policies must be reflective of the requirements of the CASA; must comply with national standards for effective policing policy; and must demonstrate trainable and evaluable policy components.

2. SECONDARY COMPLIANCE: Secondary compliance is attained by implementing supervisory, managerial and executive practices designed to and be effective in implementing the policy as written, e.g., sergeants routinely enforce the policies among field personnel and are held accountable by managerial and executive levels of the department for doing so. By definition, there should be operational artifacts such as reports, disciplinary records, remands to retraining, follow-up, and even revisions to policies if necessary, indicating that the policies developed in the first stage of compliance are known to, followed by, and important to supervisory and managerial levels of the department.

3. OPERATIONAL COMPLIANCE: Operational compliance is attained at the point that the adherence to policies is apparent in the day-to-day operation of the agency e.g., line personnel are routinely held accountable for compliance, not by the monitoring staff, but by their sergeants, and sergeants are routinely held accountable for compliance by their lieutenants and command staff. In other words, the APD “owns” and enforces its policies.

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11th FEDERAL AUDITORS REPORT COMPLIANCE STATUS ASSESSMENT

In the 10th Federal Monitor’s Report, APD was reported to have met 100% of CASA-established primary compliance requirements during the reporting period. To quote the audit “This means, in effect, that policy requiring compliance actions and processes are complete, and are reasonably designed to achieve the articulated goals of the CASA.” Secondary compliance rates (training) were reported at 81%, up from 79% and overall compliance rates are at 63%, the same as the 9th audit report.

In the 11th audit report that covered the time period of August 1, 2019 and ended in January 31, 2020, the federal monitor found APD was 100% in primary compliance, no change from 10th report, a 93% in secondary compliance, a change of 14.8% from the 10th report, and 66% in operational compliance, a change of 3%.

Primary Compliance relates mostly to development and implementation of acceptable policies and conforming to national practices.

APD is now in 93% Secondary Compliance as of the 11th reporting period, which means that effective follow-up mechanisms are beginning to be taken to ensure that APD personnel understand the requirements of promulgated policies in the areas of training, supervising, coaching, and disciplinary processes to ensure APD personnel understand the policies as promulgated and are capable of implementing them in the field.

APD is in 66% Operational Compliance with the requirements of the CASA, which means that 66% of the time, field personnel either perform tasks as required by the CASA, or that, when they fail, supervisory personnel note and correct in-field behavior that is not compliant with the requirements of the CASA.

POSITIVE NEWS REPORTED IN 11TH AUDIT REPORT

The Executive Summary reported news on the “administrative and operational fronts” of the settlement in 4 major areas:

1. “Policy development and promulgation has improved markedly … with proffered policies requiring little or no pressure from the monitoring team to move them to an acceptable level of specificity, applicability, and conformance with CASA requirements.”

2. “Training processes … have improved markedly; moving from old style lecture-memorize-test with multiple choice questions, to a more modern, … more effective interactive process that requires the ability to identify problems, analyze those problems, and create solutions to those problems by working in small collaborative groups and demonstrating skills actually needed to manage: listening, assessing, analyzing, decision-making, and implementation management. As a result, learning has evolved to skills-level processes instead of an ability to memorize and parrot back information via multiple-choice tests.”

3. “Some levels of supervision and management have begun to pay meaningful attention to critical tasks involving specific components of the CASA: use of force, preparation of valid reports of in-field incidents, effective supervision and oversight, and well-focused managerial review and assessments … .”

4. “Compliance with the CASA is broadly seen as important at command levels and is beginning to be perceived positively by mid-management and supervisory ranks.”

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According to the report, these 4 “key changes have taken years to have an impact on APD management systems, and more importantly, internal belief systems. These belief systems are, at times, not fully supportive of the change demanded by the CASA. The type of strategic change required by the CASA is difficult to instill and takes longer to implement the desired change than other more “old-style” management and leadership processes. However, we see signs that this perspective is in the nescient stages of taking hold and engendering initial change, albeit in the face of strong resistance in some quarters at APD.”

FAILURES AND “COUNTER CASA EFFECT” STILL NOTED IN 11TH REPORT

Despite all the progress made in training at the APD Academy, it was reported that APD personnel “were still failing to adhere to the requirements of the CASA found in past monitoring reports, including some instances moving beyond the epicenter of supervision to mid- and upper management levels of the organization.” The monitor found that “some in APD’s command levels continue to exhibit behaviors that “build bulwarks” [or walls] preventing fair and objective discipline, including a process of attempting to delay and in some cases successfully delaying the oversight processes until the timelines for administering discipline had been exceeded. [The] delays prevented an effective remedial response to behavior that is clearly in violation of established policy.”

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The Federal monitor reported that “since the beginning of the CASA compliance process that there were a few at APD who were overtly resistant to the CASA. [The Monitor] in the past [has] found evidence of a “counter-CASA effect” among some at the supervisory, mid-management, and command levels at APD. Those who knowingly or subconsciously count themselves in this group are beginning to face pressure to change their assessment of the value of the CASA. In some cases [they] have faced reasonably prompt and appropriate corrective efforts from the current executive levels of the APD for behavior that is not congruent with the CASA.” According to the report, “this as an essential “way forward” if APD is to move into full compliance. The remaining issue is that this pressure is neither uniform nor persistent.”

COUNTER CASA EFFECT EXPLAINED

It was on September 10, 2018, at a status telephone conference call held with US District Court Judge Robert Brack who at the time was presiding over the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) reforms that Federal Monitor Dr. James Ginger first told the federal judge that a group of “high-ranking APD officers” within the department were trying to thwart reform efforts.

The Federal Monitor revealed that the group of “high-ranking APD officers” were APD sergeants and lieutenants. Because sergeants and lieutenants are part of the police bargaining unit they remained in their positions and could not be removed by the Chief. APD Chief Michael Geier also reported last year to Judge Brack that he had noticed some “old-school resistance” to reforms mandated by the CASA. At the time, Chief Geier reported he replaced a number of commanders with others who agree with police reforms. However, Chief Geier reported he could not replace the sergeants nor lieutenants who were resisting the reforms because of the union contract.

Federal Monitor Ginger referred to the group as the “Counter-CASA effect”.

According to the Federal Monitors 10th report:

“Sergeants and lieutenants, at times, go to extreme lengths to excuse officer behaviors that clearly violate established and trained APD policy, using excuses, deflective verbiage, de minimis comments and unsupported assertions to avoid calling out subordinates’ failures to adhere to established policies and expected practice. Supervisors (sergeants) and mid-level managers (lieutenants) routinely ignore serious violations, fail to note minor infractions, and instead, consider a given case “complete”.

Under “Counter CASA Effects” in his 10th report the Federal Monitor reported:

“Some members of APD continue to resist actively APD’s reform efforts, including using deliberate counter-CASA processes. For example:

• Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) disciplinary timelines, appear at times to be manipulated by supervisory, management and command levels at the area commands, letting known violations lie dormant until timelines for discipline cannot be met;”

MONITOR NOTES STRONG, REASONED, AND EFFECTIVE COMPLIANCE EFFORTS IN 11TH REPORT

“Over the years, APD has improved its policy development process, training process, and has markedly improved the administrative oversight process. What remains is attaining mastery of the supervisory and operational management processes at the street level. While policy, training, and administration are certainly on the critical path for the APD reform project, the proof of process is observing, in practice, routine success at the operational and street level. Until those two processes are moved into operational compliance, there remains much to be done.”

During the reporting period, the monitor reported observing examples of strong, reasoned, and effective compliance efforts at APD as follows:

“• The Accountability and Oversight Division’s (AOD) and Performance Metrics Unit (PMU) has expanded both scope and capacity, and is providing meaningful, reasoned, and fact-based oversight of an expanding portion of the CASA’s requirements.

• While policy, training and administration are certainly on the critical path for the APD reform project, the proof of process is observing, in practice, routine success at the operational and street level. Until supervisory and mismanagement processes are moved into compliance, there remains much to be done.”

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POSITIVE STRIDES MADE WITH HANDLING USE OF FORCE

The monitor reported “positive strides by APD with respect to handling uses of force, including instances where the chain of command reviewing use of force incidents has documented performance issues, policy violations, and mis-categorized uses of force. However, there still exists cultural and systemic issues that could impact Operational Compliance moving forward. Timeliness of use of force investigations are of particular concern, and proper staffing of units responsible for CASA related paragraphs needs to be monitored closely.”

The report found that “based on the recent positive strides that APD’s Training Academy has made providing training on its new use of force policies, it was determined that APD achieved Secondary Compliance in [a number of areas and paragraphs of the CASA.] This is an important milestone for the APD organization, as it now becomes possible to make Operational Compliance assessments for APD’s ability to report, investigate, and oversee uses of force. The true measure of its success is whether the training is being implemented by officers and supervisors in the field.”

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MONITOR RECOMMENDS STRATEGIC APPROACH TO COMPLIANCE EFFORTS

In the 11th Report, the federal monitor recommends that APD utilize a strategic approach to its compliance efforts as follows:

“We continue to recommend that APD take a more strategic approach to its CASA compliance efforts, by reviewing the strategic factors leading to compliance, the internal and external weaknesses in APD’s compliance efforts, opportunities for advancement of compliance efforts, and threats to the organization’s compliance statuses. To fail to adapt this modality will lead to the “fireman’s approach” to compliance—rushing from pressure point to pressure point; applying less-than-well-thought-out “solutions” via ad hoc responses instead of thoughtful, planned responses, such as leveraging strengths against identified weaknesses; and clearly, thoughtfully assessing threats to compliance goals and objectives, and taking reasoned approaches to minimize or eliminate those threats.

APD has done an effective job, for the most part, in addressing prefatory requirements of effective organizational response to threats: policy development and training. The next step is more difficult: building processes into systems and fine-tuning those systems to address effectively identified threats. These higher-level processes are commonly known as “SWOT” analyses, and using these analyses the organization can, in effect, predict the future and build systems to address critical issues before these issues actually occur.”

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SUMMARY OF APD ACCOMPLISHMENTS OVER 5 YEARS UNDER THE CASA

It was in November 2014, that the City and the Department of Justice entered into the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA). The link to the CASA is here:

https://www.cabq.gov/mental-health-response-advisory-committee/documents/court-approved-settlement-agreement-final.pdf

As of November, 2019, a full 5 years has expired since the city entered into the CASA with the DOJ. From all appearances and practical purposes, and from review of the Federal Monitor’s reports, the City and APD have completed the following mandated reforms under the Court Approved Settlement Agreement:

1.After a full year of negotiations, new “use of force” and “use of deadly force” policies have been written, implemented and all APD sworn have received training on the policies.

2. All sworn police officers have received crisis management intervention training.

3. APD has created a “Use of Force Review Board” that oversees all internal affairs investigations of use of force and deadly force.

4. The Internal Affairs Unit has been divided into two sections, one dealing with general complaints and the other dealing with use of force incidents.

5. Sweeping changes ranging from APD’s SWAT team protocols, to banning choke-holds, to auditing the use of every Taser carried by officers and re-writing and implementation of new use of force and deadly force policies have been completed.

6. “Constitutional policing” practices and methods, and mandatory crisis intervention techniques an de-escalation tactics with the mentally ill have been implemented at the APD police academy with all sworn police having received training.

7. APD has adopted a new system to hold officers and supervisors accountable for all use of force incidents with personnel procedures implemented detailing how use of force cases are investigated.

8. APD has revised and updated its policies on the mandatory use of lapel cameras by all sworn police officers.

9. The Repeat Offenders Project, known as ROP, has been abolished.

10. Civilian Police Oversight Agency has been created, funded, fully staffed and a director hired.

11. The Community Policing Counsels (CPCs) have been created in all area commands and the CPCs meet monthly.

12. The Mental Health Advisory Committee has been implemented.

13. The CASA identified that APD was understaffed. The City and APD are in the process of spending $88 million dollars, over a four-year period, with 32 million dollars of recurring expenditures, to hire 322 sworn officers and grow the department to 1,200 officers. As of January 1, 2020, APD has 949 full time police officers, up from 878 sworn police. The expansion thus far is attributed primarily to hiring from other departments and returning to work APD retirees.

14. In November, 2018 APD achieved 99.6% compliance with primary tasks, 75.4% secondary compliance and 59.5% operational compliance with APD making significant progress in overall compliance.

15. According to the Use of Force Report for the years 2017 and 2018, APD’s “use of force” and “deadly force” is down dramatically , which was one of the primary objectives of the CASA reforms.

CITY MOTION TO SUSPEND PORTIONS OF THE CASA STILL PENDING

On Friday, January 10, 2020, the City of Albuquerque filed a Motion to have certain portions of the federal Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) suspended and placed into “sustained compliance” and “suspend monitoring” of those requirements by the Federal Court approved monitor. The city’s Motion highlights the progress made by the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) in implementing the court mandated reforms under the CASA. You can read the entire 25-page e-filed Motion on the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico docket Case 1:14-cv-01025-JB-SMV, Document 503 Filed 01/10/20, United States of America, Plaintiff v. The City of Albuquerque, Defendant v. The Albuquerque Police Officer’s Association, Intervenor. A hearing on the Motion has yet to be scheduled.

The city wants the federal court to suspend the monitoring activity with respect to “certain requirements” of the CASA and to put other requirements into the two-year “sustained compliance” phase. There are 3 primary areas the city is seeking that sustained compliance be found suspending further monitoring:

1. Behavioral health training of APD officers

2. APD recruitment and

3. APD specialized units.

According to the motion, APD will take steps to remain “vigilant” in preserving the progress that has already be made under the CASA. The “center piece of these efforts is that APD shall conduct regular self-assessments of compliance and shall file self-assessment reports with the court every 6 months.” (Page 3 of Motion.)

If the federal court grants the motion and allows suspension of the monitoring in the identified areas, the federal monitor will suspend the monitoring in those areas but will review APD’s self-assessment reports for compliance. The federal monitor will also evaluate whether the self-assessment reports reveal any significant concerns threatening continuing compliance with the requirements of the CASA. Further, the monitor will continue reviewing media accounts and other evidence provided to the monitor to determine whether there has been any substantial and significant lapse in compliance with the requirements of the CASA.

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ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY

The City was to reach full compliance with the CASA within 4 years and its now been over 5 years pushing on a full 6 years. Once APD achieves a 95% compliance rate in all 3 compliance areas, and maintains compliance for 2 years, the case can be dismissed. According to the 11th progress report, APD is now at 100% in primary compliance, 93% in secondary compliance and at 66% in operational compliance.

It is clear from the 11th Federal Court Monitors report that “Operational Compliance” and the “counter casa effect” have been and continues to be the biggest sticking point for APD and presenting the biggest obstacles for the department under the consent decree. Operational Compliance is attained at the point that the adherence to policies is apparent in the day-to-day operation of the agency. In other words, line personnel are routinely held accountable for compliance, not by the monitoring staff, but by their sergeants, and sergeants are routinely held accountable for compliance by their lieutenants and command staff. In other words, the APD “owns” and enforces its policies.

REMOVE MANAGEMENT FROM APD UNION

There is a definite “chain of command” when it comes to APD. All Commanders, Deputy Chiefs and the Chief are “at will” positions that serve at the pleasure of the Administration, either the Mayor or Chief. APD has a clear line of authority that separates management from rank and file sworn police officers. The problem is that APD sergeants and lieutenants, even though they are part of management with supervisory authority over sworn police officers, they are not “at will” employees and they are allowed to join the police union. Including sergeants and lieutenants the union bargaining unit creates a clear conflict within management and sends mixed messages to rank and file sworn police officers.

APD police sergeants and lieutenants are on the front line to enforce personnel rules and regulations, standard operating procedures, approve and review work performed and assist in implementing DOJ reforms and standard operating procedures policies. In other words they are the point personnel for “operational compliance” under the court settlement and they still are not getting the job done when it comes to “operational compliance.” This point was repeatedly made by the Federal Monitor when he said “until the sergeants are in harness and pulling in the same direction as the chief, things won’t get done as quickly”. In other words, without the 100% support of the sergeants and lieutenants to the CASA and mandated reforms, there will be little or no progress made with “operational compliance” and reaching a 95% compliance rate will take years.

Sergeants and lieutenants need to be made at will employees and removed from the union bargaining unit in order to get a real buy in to management’s goals of police reform and the CASA. APD Police sergeants and lieutenants cannot serve two masters of Administration Management and Union priorities that are in conflict when it comes to the CASA reforms. The city should demand that the management positions of APD sergeant and lieutenant be removed from the APOA Union bargaining unit. Further, the Keller Administration should seek to have the APOA Union removed as a party to the federal lawsuit, the consent decree and CASA negotiations.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

After review of all 11 Independent Monitors Report and the 15 major reforms accomplished by of APD under the CASA a major conclusion that can be reached is the spirit and intent of the CASA has been fully attained. The City’s Motion To Suspend Portions Of The CASA must be amended to include the progress that has be reported in the 11th Federal Monitor’s Report. After over five years of implementing the mandating DOJ reforms, APD has made significant progress in implementing the reforms. The motion should be considered precursory to dismissal of the entire case sooner rather than later.

The biggest complaint of all the DOJ consent decrees in the country is implementation and enforcement “go on and on” for years, costing millions in taxpayer dollars. It appears that is what happening in Albuquerque. With expected, continued implementation of the DOJ reforms a 95% to 100% compliance with all 3 of the CASA primary, secondary and operational compliance goals should be demanded of the APD command and management staff within 6 months.

The role of the federal monitor needs be reduced, as is being requested in the motion, as well as the continued costs of the monitoring team reduced. The city should commence negotiations with the DOJ for a stipulated “Order of Complete Compliance and Dismissal” of the CASA, and all causes of action the DOJ has against the city and APD. Otherwise, the city and taxpayers will be sucked into “year after year” of expenses and costs associated with a consent decree whose primary objective has been achieved and whose federal monitor wants another $4 million to audit progress.

The time has come for the city to be cut lose from the Federal Court Approved Settlement Agreement. Mayor Tim Keller needs to hold the APD Command Staff totally responsible to perform under the CASA. If the APD command staff can not get the job done within 6 months when it comes to “operational compliance” that is still is holding APD back, Mayor Tim Keller should replace them and find a new Chief and Deputy Chiefs who can get the job done.

Then again, Mayor Keller has a bad habit of allowing APD to do what ever they want and he refuses to hold his command staff accountable for any and all mismanagement. Some good examples are:

1. His defense of APD in their refusal to gather and tag evidence of a child’s blood stained underwear in a case
2. The paying of an APD spokesman $150,000 a year because of overtime.
3. Allowing APD to spend millions in overtime exceeding their budget.
4. Using faulty statistics and representing to the public that our violent crime rates were going down when in fact they were spiking.
5. More recently, remaining totally mum on 40+ police officers and Chief Geier participating in a private event without social distancing or wearing protective gear.

Mayor Tim Keller has shown the identical unquestionable loyalty to Chief Michael Geier that former Mayor Richard Berry showed to Chief Gordon Eden. Mayor Tim Keller can no longer blame his predecessor for a troubled APD department or their failure to implement the DOJ reforms seeing as Keller has replaced all of APD’s top command staff with a Chief and Deputy Chief’s of his own choosing that are being viewed just as inept as former Chief Gordon Eden and his appointed Deputies.
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POSTSCRIPT

The link to the full 106-page CASA containing 276 mandated reforms can be read here:

https://www.cabq.gov/mental-health-response-advisory-committee/documents/court-approved-settlement-agreement-final.pdf

All documents related to the CASA can be downloaded and reviewed at the city web site link:
https://www.cabq.gov/police/documents-related-to-apds-settlement-agreement

The documents include:

The Settlement Agreement between City and the DOJ
APD Progress Reports
Independent Monitor’s Reports
Compliance Reports
Use of Force Annual Reports
Use of Force Reports
Studies
Audits

For a related blog articles see:

City Moves To Be Released From Portions Of DOJ Consent Decree And Monitoring; Commentary: Intent And Purpose Of CASA Accomplished, Dismiss Case

Glossing Over Or Ignoring APD’s “Counter Casa Effect” Does Not Make Problem Go Away

APD Staffing Levels: 970 Sworn Police; 300 More Needed

The Lincoln Project is an American political action committee. It was formed in late 2019 by several prominent Republicans. The goal of the committee is to prevent the reelection of Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. The committee was announced on December 17, 2019, in a New York Times op-ed by George Conway, Steve Schmidt, John Weaver, and Rick Wilson.

In April 2020, the committee announced their endorsement of Joe Biden, shortly after Bernie Sanders announced the suspension of his campaign. George Conway is the husband of Kellyanne Conway, an advisor to Trump; Schmidt and Weaver are political strategists, and Wilson is a media consultant. All four are the traditional conservative Republicans but are outspoken critics of Trump.

The following opinion piece was published om April 15, in the Washington Post:

HEADLINE: We’ve Never Back A Democrat For President, But Trump Must Be Defeated
By
George T. Conway III, Reed Galen, Steve Schmidt, John Weaver and Rick Wilson
April 15, 2020

“This November, Americans will cast their most consequential votes since Abraham Lincoln’s reelection in 1864. We confront a constellation of crises: a public health emergency not seen in a century, an economic collapse set to rival the Great Depression, and a world where American leadership is absent and dangers rise in the vacuum.

It is our hope that when the next president takes the oath of office in January, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., will be the president for a truly united America. The stakes are too high to do anything less.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/15/weve-never-backed-democrat-president-trump-must-be-defeated/?fbclid=IwAR1JpSTfhmClhOX2OfnuLTGrDJ0D7BMB5AUyapWvkATmCeKwR7q_z4-9hls

NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE

On Wednesday April 29, the New York Times reported that Trump is frustrated by a faltering economy that is out of his control, and facing sharp criticism for his suggestion that disinfectants could potentially combat the coronavirus. According to the report, Trump has sunk to one of his lowest points in recent months. He directed his anger toward the one area that is most important to him: his re-election prospects.

It was reported Trump erupted during a phone call with his campaign manager, Brad Parscale, two days after he was presented with polling data from his campaign and the Republican National Committee that showed him trailing former Vice President Joe Biden. Typically, Trump “lashed out at Mr. Parscale and said it was other people’s fault that there had been fluctuations in a race they had all seen as his to lose just two months ago. At one point, Mr. Trump said he would not lose to Mr. Biden, insisted the data was wrong and blamed the campaign manager for the fact that he is down in the polls.”
…

“The lack of easy options to reset his political trajectory has been deeply unsettling to Mr. Trump, who began the year confident about his re-election prospects because of a thriving economy, but whose performance on the virus has Republicans nervous about losing the White House and the Senate in November.”

Below is the link to the entire New York Times report:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/29/us/politics/trump-campaign-reelection-polls.html?smid=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR2ko9kFBJ3o50YD5XiUUWFVI__cLlH4JkHipHTkbiiLeghy9guGvdI1dBQ

RECENT POLLS

On April 24, it was reported that former Vice President Joe Biden is leading President Donald Trump in multiple presidential polls in battleground states amid the US coronavirus crisis.

“Even though Biden hasn’t gotten as much of the national spotlight as Trump, or even some governors, in the age of Covid-19, these polls suggest it might not matter much. Biden is ahead in most surveys conducted in states where Trump won in 2016, states that will likely be key to a Democratic victory in November. …

There are some important takeaways from all the polls. Even with record unemployment and a recession, Trump isn’t being judged as harshly on the economy as he is for his handling of the coronavirus. The Fox poll in Michigan found that 59% of voters surveyed said the president’s response to the coronavirus was too slow, compared with 38% who said it was appropriate. And Fox’s Florida poll found 55% of respondents agreed Trump’s coronavirus response was too slow, compared with 41% who said it was appropriate.”

A link to the full article is here:

https://www.vox.com/2020/4/24/21234425/trump-biden-battleground-states-polls-2020-election

WASHINGTON POST PUNDIT POWER RANKINGS

In late April, The Washington Post “Power Rankings” also offered the follow analysis of all the polls:

“Trump is behind no matter what set of polls one looks at. He trails Biden by 6.3 points as of Thursday April 30 morning in the RealClearPolitics average. His job approval rating has sunk in recent days to a mere 44.9 percent, down from a recent high of 47.3 percent on March 31. Though his job approval is still higher than his share of the vote in ballot tests against Biden, he would still trail by more than 3 points even if he did as well as those ratings. There’s no plausible path to winning the electoral college if he loses the popular vote by that much on Election Day.

It’s not hard to see why Trump is in this predicament. He has never received more than 48 percent job approval in the RCP polling average, the first president in polling history to do so poorly. While virtually every other world leader has seen their ratings rise in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Trump has not. It’s true that Trump has faced a critical press corps during this crisis, but it’s also true that his performances during the White House daily press briefings have been at best uneven. He might blame his staff, but he ultimately has no one to blame but himself.”

TRUMP INCITES INSURRECTION AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

On April 17, in a dangerous series of tweets, President Trump incited citizen insurrection against the duly elected governors of the states of Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia where the Democratic Governors are doing their best to “flatten the curve” of the pandemic. One day after Trump issued guidance for re-opening America that clearly deferred decision-making to the Governors of the states, Trump undercut his own guidance by calling for criminal acts against the governors for not opening fast enough.

Trump tweeted, “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” followed immediately by “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” and then “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!” The day before there were demonstrations in Michigan where armed protestors surrounded the state capitol building in Lansing chanting “Lock her up!” in reference to Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and “We will not comply,” in reference to her extension of the state’s coronavirus-related stay-at-home order. Smaller armed groups protested on the state capitol grounds in Richmond, Virginia , and outside the governor’s mansion in St. Paul, Minn.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/04/17/liberate-michigan-trump-constitution/

TRUMP ADMITS DEATH TOLL WILL DOUBLE OR TRIPLE

It was on April 20 that Trump first estimated that the number of death from the corona virus would be 50,000 to 60,000. As of May 4, the death toll is approaching 70,000. During a May 4 televised fox News Town-hall, Trump revised his estimate dramatically and said:

“I used to say 65,000. Now I’m saying 80 or 90 [thousand], and it goes up and it goes up rapidly. But it’s still going to be, no matter how you look at it, at the very lower end of the plane if we did the shutdown. ”

Trump was alluding to the 100,000 to 200,000 death estimate cited in late March by public health experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

https://www.vox.com/2020/5/4/21246342/trump-fox-news-town-hall-coronavirus-death-toll-upward

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Before the pandemic, Trump was relying upon the booming economy to give him a certain reelection victory. The disastrous way Mr. Trump and his administration have been handling the pandemic crisis is no doubt a major reason his popularity is going down and voters are seeing what he is: a pathological liar and a totally inept fool.

Trump’s staunches supporters will no doubt say all the polls were wrong last time, they are wrong now, and that Trump will win again by a landslide. What Trump supporters always downplay or just ignore is that Trump lost the national popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 3 million votes and won the election in the electoral college. Biden is not Clinton and he does not have the extent of political baggage Clinton had. What Trump supporters also ignore is Trump must now run on his record of broken promises and irrational, unhinged behavior. Bullying opponents and critics and outright lying to the public will not cut it this time around.

Trump can no longer have his political rallies to gin up his base because of the pandemic. He now is saying he wants to start the rallies up again before the November election. There will be no “social distancing” at such rallies and the disease will spike once again. Trump has taken to daily news briefings and updates as a substitute for his rallies, and its backfiring in that he cannot control the questions asked nor correct the lies he reports as news. Trump refuses to accept the fact that he does not know what he is talking about. Trump consistently contradicts his medical advisors and lies to the public with what is going on. He also lashes out against his critics and the news media during his daily briefings.

Trump has an uncanny ability to make things worse with his daily tweeting and self-absorbed, self-center arrogance. His false proclamation that the decision to reopen the country’s ailing economy ultimately rests with him, not the governors, is the best example of how delusional President Trump is. After over 3 years of constant daily news coverage and twitters from Trump creating crisis, after crisis, after crisis of his own making, even bringing the country close to nuclear war with North Korea, the United States is now faced with a major pandemic revealing a man who is totally unfit, incompetent and totally unprepared to be President.

Trump supporters look upon him as the messiah that is cult like. As the crisis continues, the odds are high that he will only complicate the crisis, making things MUCH worse and create another crisis within a crisis. More people will likely die because of his mishandling of the pandemic. Trump now has acknowledged that the number of deaths caused by the pandemic will not be 50,000 but more like 200,000. Trump will make things worse because he just cannot help it.

Trump has now taken to promoting civil disobedience in states where Democratic Governors are doing their best to deal with the pandemic. Tweeting “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” , “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” and “LIBERATE VIRGINIA” and stoking civil disorder among his supporters is essentially throwing gas on a fire. Burning down the country is no way to govern, but Trump sure sees it as a hellfire way to get elected to another 4 year term.

For a related Dinelli blog article see:

Our Corona Virus “War Time President” Has Created His Own “Fog of War”; Trump Is A Cancer On Our Body Politic That Must Be Removed On November 3.

It has been reported that in early 2020, thousands of law enforcement officers and other first responders throughout the country have contracted COVID-19 during the worldwide pandemic due to requirements of their job. As of April 20, 2020, at least 19 police officers throughout the country in various cities have died from the corona virus. In New York City, as of March 29, at least 696 New York Police Department employees have contracted the disease and 3 members of the department have died from coronavirus.

https://www.odmp.org/search/incident/covid-19

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/28/us/nypd-coronavirus-deaths/index.html

FEDERAL COURTHOUSE CLOSED, APD OFFICERS QUARANTINED

On May 4, it was reported that an FBI agent’s positive COVID-19 test on April 15 lead to the closure of the U.S. District Courthouse in Downtown Albuquerque for two days. The closure of the courthouse forced multiple co-workers, other agents and task force officers into quarantine. On April 17, the Albuquerque Police Department said 39 officers and two civilian employees had been quarantined after coming into contact with a federal officer who had the virus during a “multiagency operation.” All APD officers have tested negative and have returned to work.

The disclosures about the FBI agent’s positive test culminating in the quarantines and courthouse closure came to light in two coronavirus-related workplace safety complaints filed against the FBI’s Albuquerque office in the past month, the first alleging that protocols were not up to par with the governor’s public health order and the second, lodged weeks later, claiming a bureau agent returned to work after contracting the virus.

On March 26, the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau sent the FBI a letter saying it had received a complaint from employees “concerned management is ignoring COVID-19 guidance/directives.” The local office of the FBI now says the office is abiding by social distancing guidelines and had distributed numerous N-95 masks, surgical masks and gloves to supervisors and employees by April 10.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1450753/fbi-agents-positive-test-shut-courthouse.html

APD OFFICERS IGNORE GOVERNOR’S PUBLIC HEATH ORDERS

Under Governor Michelle Lujan Emergency Orders, all non-essential businesses, including barbershops are closed in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus. It seems that a number of Albuquerque Police Officers (APD) did not get the memo, and neither did APD Chief Michael Geier. On April 24, KRQE news reported that 3 Albuquerque Police Department officers were disciplined for violating the Governor’s and the Mayor’s health care orders after the APD officers were caught getting haircuts at a local barbershop.

An anonymous source sent KRQE News 13 photos taken earlier last week at around 7 a.m. in the morning. It turns out that three APD officers were getting haircuts at the True Barbershop off Osuna and I-25. Other people in the area said they had seen several APD officers at that barbershop each morning, despite the state’s public health orders that say salons and barbershops will be closed for now.

https://www.krqe.com/health/coronavirus-new-mexico/apd-officers-reprimanded-for-getting-haircuts-at-local-barber-shop/

When Channel 13 interviewed people around the city to get their opinion they said APD police officers should be leading by example. Some of the comments by private citizens included:

“Well I can understand that maybe they needed it but they have to abide by the same rules that we do. ”

“I know the struggle because my hair is long now. … I haven’t had a haircut in four months but at the same time, rules are rules.”

Under APD personnel Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s), all sworn officers have to maintain “grooming” requirements including keeping their hair clean, combed and neatly trimmed. The personnel rules also mandate that male officers cannot have long hair that goes over their ears.

After KRQE News 13 showed photos of police cars parked outside the barber shop APD declined an interview. However, APD did say the 3 police officers were reprimanded. APD also announced that it was relaxing their “grooming” requirements until barbershops can open back up. APD added that the barber will not be getting a citation because the policy is to first to inform a none complying business about the public health order rather than cite them and if they persist and still remain open APD then issues citations.

APD CHIEF GEIER IGNORES PUBLIC HEALTH ORDERS

On April 16th the Albuquerque Journal reported in a front page article that on the morning of April 2 dozens of APD officers showed up at the home of a former police officer who had died earlier in the morning at his home in order to escort the hearse dispatched to carrying his body to the funeral home. A video of the event was posted on YOUTUBE but was taken down. Another posted the video without sound and the link to the video is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksWO80TblRM

The video reveals APD officers greeting one another and even pose for group photos. Police Chief Michael Geier shows up in a shirtsleeve uniform shirt to provide solace. Officers stand shoulder-to-shoulder outside the front side walk of the home and then stand at attention and salute the flag-draped body as it is carried from the home and placed in a hearse for transportation to the funeral home.

No one in the video is wearing a mask and the 6 feet in social distancing is not practiced as police and private citizens converse. An escort of up to 40 police officers on motorcycles, arranged in two rows of twenty, begin the procession as a white hearse from Daniels funeral home joins in the middle with 20 in front and 20 in back of the hearse.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1444645/amid-covid19-pandemic-a-hero-receives-a-touching-tribute.html

On April 22, the Albuquerque Journal published a scathing editorial about the fact that neither Governor Lujan Grisham nor Mayor Keller, who have ordered citizens to stay home and away from groups, expressed concern about the conduct of APD and its Chief and opined in part:

“The failure of the mayor and governor to denounce the send-off is a glaring failure in leadership. By attending the gathering, Geier gave his approval, and rather than speaking out against the gathering, Keller and Lujan Grisham have backed him up. … No doubt it would have been awkward for Keller and Lujan Grisham to publicly criticize law enforcement for honoring one of its own. But they ordered the shelter-in-place rules, regardless of the personal pain and sacrifice they are causing hundreds of thousands of New Mexicans. They should have the backbone to support their own policies – and then brace for any criticism.”

The link to the full editorial can is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1446283/how-can-leaders-remain-mum-on-apd-sendoff.html

Confidential sources within APD have confirmed that APD Chief Michael Geier and many of his executive staff felt that it did not matter and they simply did not care what the public thought or what news media reported regarding the escort they provided to a former colleague who passed from a terminal disease. The opinion they expressed was they were “willing to take the hit” when it came to the bad publicity that ensued. Such an attitude is a far cry from that shown by other police departments in the country who in fact practice social distancing and worn protective gear when they attend funerals of a fallen colleague.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

APD has been ordered by Mayor Tim Keller to enforce and issue citations to businesses and citizens for flagrant violations of the stay at home orders and social distancing orders. Mayor Tim Keller has also become a fixture on the local news giving daily press briefing on what the city is doing to address the pandemic and going so far as to conducting telephone “town hall meetings” where thousands are called and the public are allowed to ask him questions that are screened by his political consultant who now works for 311.

Mayor Keller is demanding so very much from the general public during these difficult times. However, when it comes to APD, Chief Geier and APD officers, Mayor Keller declines to comment or take any action when asked about APD Chief Michael Geier and the 40+ police officers in attending of the hearse escort and who failed to take precautionary measures to protect themselves from the corona virus. Chief Geier and the police officers failed to practice social distancing, failed to wear masks and congregated and socialized with more than 5 people.

Chief Geier nor the 40+ sworn police were not discipline nor even admonished for their own conduct by Mayor Tim Keller. Now Chief Geier allows officers to be discipline for getting haircuts in violation of the very orders he violated. There is no mention if the barber was performing the service free of charge, which is not at all likely given that other police cars had been seen repeatedly for a number of days.

Just like the general public, law enforcement must honor and respect the requirements of the emergency orders as to safety precautions to halt the spread of the virus. Further Keller and Chief Geier with their actions, failures to act, and attitude show a level of hypocrisy that is difficult to ignore. The “willingness to take the hit” of bad publicity in order to do something you want against health orders reflects arrogance and a sense of entitlement.

The emergency orders are meaningless and law enforcement lose credibility with the public when they enforce the orders and shut down businesses and cancel major events and issue citizens citations that result in heavy fines. It becomes an issue of “Do as I order, not as I do.”

For a related blog article see:

“APD Honors Its Own”, “APD Officers Gather To Honor Deceased Lieutenant Despite Pandemic”; Governor, Mayor, APD Chief Decline Direct Comment; APD Adopts After The Fact Policies; “Do as I order, not as I Do.”

On April 30, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham made it official announced that she was extending the quarantine orders another two weeks to May 15. The order was set to expire May 1. The Governor also announced she will allow some business to open for the reason that that New Mexico has “flattened the curve” and is on track to avoid a shortage of hospital beds as it confronts the coronavirus outbreak. Notwithstanding, the governor said New Mexico is “well on our way” to getting closer to reopening.

Dr. David Scrase, Cabinet Secretary of the Human Services Department said he expects cases in New Mexico to continue to grow over next six weeks. Using new projections based on research from Los Alamos National Lab Dr. Scarse said the models predict 7,200 COVID-19 cases by beginning of June. Dr. Scrase also said all 14 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds in McKinley County area are full. Patients in the area are being transported to Albuquerque, where adjustments are being made to expand ICU capabilities because ICU beds at the major hospitals are also full.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/gov-lujan-grisham-officials-extends-public-health-order-allows-some-businesses-to-reopen/5715961/?cat=500

PHASED IN REOPENING PLAN

The Governor has already announced a phased in business opening plan. The timeline for the state’s phased in reopening plan is dependent on when certain criteria are met. Social distancing measures will be mandated to avoid a spike in COVID-19 cases The Governor’s “phase in” business reopening plan includes at least 3 major phases:

Preparation Phase

– All individuals instructed to stay home
– Industry Councils to develop COVID safe practices (CSP)
– Define how businesses will protect employees and customers

Phase One

– Vulnerable individuals instructed to stay home
– Some non-essential businesses permitted to reopen in compliance with CSPs.
– Certain businesses will still be closed

Phase Two and Beyond

– Additional businesses permitted to reopen in compliance with CSPs.
– Larger gatherings and events still restricted for the foreseeable future
– Other changes to be announced

Governor Lujan Grisham has vowed to sanction businesses that flout restrictions on nonessential business. State Police officers have been dispatched to cities and small towns across the state to enforce the restrictions. As of April 28, the New Mexico State Police had issued 124 cease and desist orders to first-time violators and three citations on second offenses. Two individuals were referred to the Department of Health for repeated noncompliance and could face civil penalties.

BUSINESS ACTIVITY ALLOWED ON FRIDAY, MAY 1

On April 30, the Governor announced that state officials are beginning to ease up on business restrictions. The Governor emphasized that all New Mexicans should wear face coverings while they are out. She announced that starting Friday, May 1, the following will be allowed:

Non-essential retailers can operate via curbside pickup and delivery service where permitted by their license, but this does not include liquor stores.

State parks are allowed to reopen May 1 on a modified “day use only” basis as staff is available. Camping and visitors are still closed. The first to open are Cimarron Canyon, Ute Lake, Brantley Lake, Sumner Lake, Caballo Lake, Cerrillos Hills, Storrie Lake and Villanueva. Day-use fees will be waived to decrease person-to-person interaction through May 15.

Pet services, including adoption, groomers, daycare, boarding of animals will be permitted to operate.

Veterinarians permitted to operate

Golf courses allowed to open for golf only but no dine-in food service or retail services will be allowed.

Gun stores will be allowed to operate by appointment only given need for background checks

BUSINESS ACTIVITY NOT ALLOWED ON FRIDAY, MAY 1

Under the modified orders, the following will remain closed:

Offices, work-spaces, retailers, except curbside-delivery will be allowed.

Dine-in restaurants and bars, except curbside-delivery are still allowed.

Indoor malls, gyms, salons, theaters and casinos are to remain closed.

Mass gatherings are prohibited.

The14-day quarantine order remains in place for out-of-state airport travel.

https://www.krqe.com/health/coronavirus-new-mexico/gov-lujan-grisham-to-provide-update-on-covid-19-response-thursday/

FOLLOWING RESTRICTIONS NOW WILL TRANSLATE INTO MORE OPENINGS

During her April 30 briefing, Governor Lujan Grisham warned that Phase 1 can only be implemented if New Mexicans continue to follow social distancing rules now. If that happens the governor said Phase 1 would possibly include the following:

All retailers could operate according to retail COVID-19 safe practices at 20% fire code occupancy.

Dine-in service at restaurants and bars could be permitted up to 50% occupancy but without barstool or standing service.

Gyms and salons, hotels and houses of worship could operate in a limited fashion according to COVID safe practices, including social distancing, wearing of protective face masks and use of hand sanitation products.

The public health order that was set to expire on May 1st and the new public health order go into effect the same day until May 15th.

CONFIRMED CASES OF COVID-19 IN NEW MEXICO

Following are the latest statistics on COVID-19 cases in New Mexico as of April 30:

Positive tests: 3,411

Total Tests: 67,869

Recovered: 760

Hospitalized: 172

Deaths: 123

198 new cases bringing total to 3,411

172 total hospitalizations, 44 who are on ventilators

DEATHS REPORTED

Eleven additional deaths have been reported bringing the total to 123 deaths. A breakdown of those cases are as follows:

A male in his 80s from Luna County. The individual was hospitalized and had underlying conditions. He was a new resident of Central Desert Behavioral Health in Albuquerque.

A male in his 70s from McKinley County. The individual was hospitalized and had underlying conditions. He was a resident of Sundance Care Home in Gallup.

A male in his 50s from McKinley County. The individual was hospitalized and had underlying conditions.

A male in his 40s from McKinley County. The individual was hospitalized.

A female in her 90s from San Juan County. The individual had underlying conditions. She was a resident of the Life Care Center of Farmington in Farmington.

A female in her 80s from San Juan County. The individual was hospitalized and had underlying conditions. She was a resident of the Life Care Center of Farmington in Farmington.

A second female in her 80s from San Juan County. The individual had underlying conditions. She was a resident of the Life Care Center of Farmington in Farmington.

A third female in her 80s from San Juan County. The individual had underlying conditions. She was a resident of the Life Care Center of Farmington in Farmington.

A male in his 90s from San Juan County. The individual had underlying conditions. He was a resident of the Life Care Center of Farmington in Farmington.

A second male in his 90s from San Juan County. The individual had underlying conditions. He was a resident of the Life Care Center of Farmington in Farmington.

A male in his 80s from San Juan County. The individual had underlying conditions. He was a resident of the Life Care Center of Farmington in Farmington.

CASES BY COUNTY:

Following is a breakdown of the number of cases reported per county as of April 30. Note that McKinely County has reported the largest number of cases at 1,027 compared to Bernalillo County at 812 , with Bernalillo County having upwards to 10 times the number of residents as McKinely County:

Bernalillo County: 812
Catron County: 1
Chaves County: 22
Cibola County: 52
Colfax County: 5
Curry County: 17
Doña Ana County: 144
Eddy County: 12
Grant County: 14
Guadalupe County: 14
Harding County: 1
Lea County: 10
Lincoln County: 2
Los Alamos County: 6
Luna County: 4
McKinley County: 1027
Otero County: 5
Quay County: 4
Rio Arriba County: 14
Roosevelt County: 9
Sandoval County: 389
San Juan County: 621
San Miguel County: 2
Santa Fe County: 100
Sierra County: 1
Socorro County: 42
Taos County: 18
Torrance County: 15
Union County: 3
Valencia County: 45

https://www.koat.com/article/coronavirus-new-mexico-cases-covid-19/31401320

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

The clear and unmistakable message Governor Lujan delivered on April 30 is that all of what she has ordered is indeed “flattening the curve” and the state is making significant progress, but we still have a ways to go given the fact that increases in cases is still being projected. New Mexico appears to be inching closer to reopening over perhaps the next 2 months.

The Governor also sent the clear message that in a real sense, its all on use to make sure we do are part and follow the social distancing rules.

TAKE PRECAUTIONS TO PROTECT YOURSELF AND FAMILY

Older adults and those with chronic illnesses are most at risk to contract the virus that could result in death from complications. Even healthy young people not worried about getting sick should take steps to protect themselves and others in that they could still carry the virus but not show signs of it. The strategy must be to limit the chance of transmitting the disease to persons who are more vulnerable.

Health and government officials urged people to protect themselves by:

1. Self-quarantine as much as possible
2. Honoring the “quarantine” and staying home and avoid large crowds and public events
3. Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds and do not touch your face
4. Clean “high-touch” surfaces daily with regular household cleaners
5. When coughing, use a tissue or cough into the forearm of your elbow
6. Avoiding the sharing of personal household items
7. Stay at home when sick
8. Practice “social distancing” when talking to others in person by standing 6 feet away from them
9 Wear face masks if available that seals around mouth and nose when out in public
10.Limit activities to grocery shopping, filling your car with gasoline and medical appointment.

Please be safe and use the precautions outlined.

On April 22, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that she was extending the quarantine orders to May 15. According to the Governor, state officials will begin easing upon business restrictions with a “phase in” process. She announced a 3-step phased in plan. The governor did not say specifically when closed businesses might be allowed to reopen. The Governor also announced the creation of an “Economic Recovery Council”.

ECONOMIC RECOVERY COUNCIL

The 15-member Economic Recovery Council will provide the Governor’s Office with advice about a “slow reopening” of the state’s economy. The Economic Recovery Council appointed by the governor will include major business and health leaders from across the state. The council will includes industries hit hard by the pandemic including entertainment, hospitality, oil and gas, agriculture and banking. The group will be co-chaired by formerstate Representative Brian Moore of Clayton, a grocery store owner who worked in the previous Republican administration.

Council members include Guadalupe Regional Hospital Administrator Christina Campos of Santa Rosa, Brian O’Leary of NBC/Universal, Peter Trevisani of New Mexico United professional soccer team, a representative of the San Francisco-based renewable energy developer Pattern Energy and a representative of the New York-based mass media conglomerate NBC Universal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The council will help the governor decide when and what to open in New Mexico.

Lujan Grisham said last week that she will consult with a council of business leaders as the administration develops a phased plan for possibly relaxing restrictions on nonessential businesses and social distancing directives.

NOT SUBJECT TO OPEN MEETINGS ACT

The “Open Meetings Act,” NMSA 1978, Sections 10-15-1 to 10-15-4, is known as a “sunshine law.” Virtually every state has such a law, which are essentially motivated by the belief that the democratic ideal is best served by a well-informed public. Sunshine laws generally require that public business be conducted in full public view, that the actions of public bodies be taken openly, and that the deliberations of public bodies be open to the public. It is the New Mexico Attorney General who is authorized by Section 10-15-3(B) of the Act to enforce its provisions.

On April 28, Charlie Moore, the spokesman for the Taxation and Revenue Department raised more than a few eyebrows from the media and political observers when he said that the Economic Recovery Council is not subject to the state’s Open Meetings Act and that its deliberations will be closed to the public. According to Moore, instead of meetings open to the public, summaries will be provided of the work by the Economic Recovery Council and Moore said:

“We do not at this point plan on opening the group’s discussions to the public. … The Recovery Council is an advisory group only and for that reason not subject to Open Meetings Act requirements.”

https://www.abqjournal.com/1448776/states-economic-recovery-council-to-meet-in-private.html

The Economic Recovery Council has not released meeting calendars and agendas.

According to the Governor’s Office, a bipartisan council of mayors also is being assembled to provide advice through the governor’s chief of staff, John Bingaman. It was unclear which mayors may participate.

PHASED IN REOPENING PLAN

The Governor has already announced a phased in business opening plan. The timeline for the state’s phased in reopening plan will depend on when certain criteria are met. Social distancing measures will be mandated to avoid a spike in COVID-19 cases. Human Services Secretary Dr. David Scrase said that without social distancing, it doesn’t matter how much testing you do, the virus will still spread. The phase-in reopening of the economy plan will include a timeline based on performance against criteria. Social distancing will continue to be a critical component. The Governor’s “phase in” business reopening plan includes at least 3 major phases:

Preparation Phase

– All individuals instructed to stay home
– Industry Councils to develop COVID safe practices (CSP)
– Define how businesses will protect employees and customers

Phase One

– Vulnerable individuals instructed to stay home
– Some non-essential businesses permitted to reopen in compliance with CSPs.
– Certain businesses will still be closed

Phase Two and Beyond

– Additional businesses permitted to reopen in compliance with CSPs.
– Larger gatherings and events still restricted for the foreseeable future
– Other changes TBD

MOST NOTABLE ACT OF DEFIANCE

Governor Lujan Grisham has vowed to sanction businesses that flout restrictions on nonessential business. State Police officers have been dispatched to cities and small towns across the state to enforce the restrictions. As of April 28, the New Mexico State Police had issued 124 cease and desist orders to first-time violators and three citations on second offenses. Two individuals were referred to the Department of Health for repeated noncompliance and could face civil penalties.

The most notable act of defiance thus far has come from Democrat Grants Mayor Martin Hicks, who has reopened city hall and order city workers back to work. Mayor Hicks has encouraged businesses in his city to defy the governor’s orders and reopen to the public. On Monday, April 27, Mayor Hicks and several dozen supporters rallied with him as he encouraged business owners in his community to defy the governor’s lock-down order that shuttered nonessential shops to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

It turns out that those at the morning rally in Grants included political activists from elsewhere. They waved American flags as one person held a sign that read: “Open Grants Now.” The State Police did not send any extra officers to Grants due to the mayor’s earlier threats of a confrontation.

Mayor Martin “Modey” Hicks vowed in defiance to allow all small businesses in Grants to reopen. Governor Lujan Grisham for her part has said the mayor’s plan makes “absolutely no sense whatsoever” and warned that State Police would continue enforcing the health order.

For related news coverage see:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-grants-new-mexico-mayor-martin-hicks-showdown-police-lockdown/

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico-news/emotions-run-high-as-mayor-of-grants-defies-governors-order-allows-businesses-to-reopen/5711810/

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/grants-mayor-has-quotdismissedquot-city-manager-for-not-reopening-golf-course/5712545/

https://www.cibolacitizen.com/breaking-news-news/mayor-determined-stand-his-ground

ABQ CITY COUNCIL

Late Sunday, April 26, Albuquerque Republican City Councilors Brook Bassan and Don Harris held a press conference to announce they were introducing a City Council Resolution asking Mayor Keller to re-evaluate public health restrictions and consider reopening some local businesses. The proposed resolution will be introduced to the City Council at the May 4 meeting.

The Councilors suggested liquor stores, barbershops, salons, and small specialty shops as well as outdoor activities facilities like golf courses and tennis courts be allowed to open. They also suggested that if the businesses were allowed to re-open, they must follow public health rules like occupancy limits, social distancing and have employees wear masks and gloves. Both Councilors also asked Mayor Keller to immediately analyze the necessity of the continued ban on non-emergency medical procedures.

Republican City Councilor Don Harris had this to say:

“As necessary as the initial public health orders may have been, the economic, social, cultural, and recreational interests of the residents of Albuquerque have suffered immensely as a result of the ordered closures. These impacts have been especially hard on the city’s small businesses and service workers and we want to work with the mayor’s office to reevaluate the closure of non-essential businesses. ”

A spokesperson for Mayor Tim Keller’s office responded to the city councilor’s resolution with this statement:

“We announced last week that we’re already crafting data-driven plans so that businesses can re-open and stay open while the health care system maintains capacity. We have invited council to join us in our collaborative efforts with the State, area hospitals, and the local business community.”

Mayor Keller for his part has talked about opening a few businesses at a time, having a plan for COVID-19 cases in the workplace, and implementing rules like having employees wear masks and getting their temperatures taken. As for when that could happen, the Mayor said he’ll follow the governor’s lead.

https://www.krqe.com/health/coronavirus-new-mexico/city-councilors-introduce-legislation-to-reopen-businesses-in-albuquerque/

JURIS DOCTOR DON HARRIS

Least anyone forget, a little over a month ago, Don Harris became one of the first elected officials to publicly question the Governor’s stay at home order to combat the coronavirus. Several hours after the first reported NM death from the virus was reported, Harris was quoted as saying to political blogger Joe Monahan:

“I am sensing that the Governor is going lockstep with places that have much different problems than we do, particularly New York. Testing there shows a very high infection rate, while in New Mexico it is two percent. You can’t treat the country as a unified entity when New Mexico is a sparsely populated state and has a a different climate than New York. … Hopefully we will have some good data by April 10 and be very cautious about extending it and with regard to whom and how long. We should talk about the young people resuming normal life and keep those people away from the elderly. I think we need to have an open discussion about the harm that the economic lock down is doing to people. ”

Harris also brought up the hot button issue of possible increased suicides among the millions of workers laid off because of the shuttering of much of the economy. President Trump brought up the same issue but the AP came with a fact check that disputes that notion. Harris, an attorney in private practice, urged an “open discussion” about the stay at home order saying his chief concern is that it could be extended beyond the scheduled April 10 expiration, causing extensive economic harm.

Harris wrote on Facebook that his speaking out was prompted by the state’s use of the emergency alert system to urge all New Mexicans to stay home:

“I received an emergency text from the Governor or her agency ordering me to stay home. At the time I was walking in the foothills. … Albuquerque ranks number one in the nation in per capita for land devoted to open space and we are the fifth least-densely populated state in the country with 17 people per square mile on average. We have a high-desert climate with lots of sun and virus killing UV radiation. We are not New York City.”

Harris also questioned Mayor Tim Keller’s order closing city golf courses by saying:

“People can stay six feet away from each other. Why not let people go out and golf?”

When Harris popped off to political blogger Joe Monahan, there was only one death attributed to the virus, a month later, 109 more people died from the virus. On Wednesday, April 26, a little over a month since Juris Doctor Don Harris decided to practice medicine and make comment to blogger Monahan, New Mexico reported 2,974 positive tests, 58,771 negative tests, 705 reported recoveries and 110 deaths.

In the 2019 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, 10.9% of the state’s population was identified as Native American. New Mexico’s Native American tribes and pueblos have been disproportionately impacted by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, according to data released by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration. Recent COVID-19 outbreak clusters on New Mexico tribal land, including on the Navajo Nation, have led to elevated infection rates, with Native Americans making up 36.7% of the state’s confirmed coronavirus cases, according to the state-level data. New Mexico’s Native American tribes and pueblos have been disproportionately impacted by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, according to new data released by the Lujan Grisham’s administration. New Mexico’s Native American tribes and pueblo reservations are located in remote and sparsely populated areas of the state with plenty of New Mexico sunshine. The virus has still spread to the reservations which in an of itself seems to discredit more than a few remarks made by Harris regarding population and climate.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1443600/nm-officials-launch-new-covid-19-data-portal.html

REPUBLICAN LEGISLATORS GET INTO THE ACT OF SECOND GUESSING

On Tuesday, April 28, New Mexico House Republican legislators in the House in a letter to the Governor urged her to accelerate the lifting of restrictions. They argued that many businesses won’t survive if restrictions last through mid-May. They also said New Mexicans are growing restless and may take matters into their own hands. The lawmakers wrote there is a need “to keep the situation from devolving into social chaos.”

In a conference call with the media to release the letter, the Republican law makers went so far as to suggest that civil unrest and “social chaos” will soon occur if the state is not reopened for business soon and Republican House Minority Whip Rod Montoya of Farmington told reporters that the state needs to avoid a “Kent State situation”. Kent State was where the Ohio National Guard shot Viet Nam war protesters in 1970. Montoya told reporters:

“It’s just unpredictable as to what could happen. ”

Nora Meyers Sackett, a spokeswoman for Lujan Grisham, called Montoya’s reference to the Kent State massacre “appalling” and said:

“Evidence-based decisions and protecting public health have been and will remain the foremost priorities. … The state is immensely grateful to the local community officials and stakeholders from all across New Mexico who recognize the importance of safeguarding public health and upholding the measures we all must undertake to minimize transmission of this virus and ensure New Mexicans are as safe and healthy as they can be.”

GOVERNOR GET HIGH MARKS FOR HANDLING PANDEMIC

On Apr 24, 2020, “The Majority Institute – Public Policy Polling” released its newest New Mexico survey. It found that Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has a 62% approval rating for her handling of the coronavirus, to only 26% who disapprove for a net +36 rating. By contrast Donald Trump has a net -15 approval rating for his handling of the virus, with just 40% approving of the job he’s doing to 55% who disapprove. That is a net 51% difference.

Key findings from the survey include the following:

1. Lujan Grisham is getting overwhelming support from both Democrats (83/9) and independents (60/28) for her handling of the virus and receives good marks from 32% of Republicans as well.

2. 63% of voters in the state think the state’s response to the coronavirus has been ‘about right.’ Only 27% think it’s overreacting. By contrast just 35% of voters think the federal response to the virus has been about right, with 49% saying that the Trump administration’s response has been an under reaction.

3. 89% of voters in the state say they are at least ‘somewhat concerned’ about the coronavirus, with 61% saying they are ‘very concerned.’ Voters are more concerned that they or a family member will get the virus than they are about its economic impact.

4. Lujan Grisham’s overall approval rating shows a high degree of popularity, with 59% approving and just 32% disapproving of the job she’s doing. By contrast Trump has only a 40% approval rating, with 56% of voters disapproving of him.

PPP surveyed 1,009 New Mexico voters on April 20th and 21st. The survey was conducted half by calls to landlines and half by texts to cell phones, and the margin of error is +/-3.1% This research was conducted on behalf of The Majority Institute.

https://majorityinstitute.com/latest/lujan-grisham-bests-trump-51-points-coronavirus-response?fbclid=IwAR096gVrXyx0nfAiOKOE7Jb7DF_IVKT9OVxEoB4p6bN1x60TyQcwHXo0xCA

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

A. MAKE ALL MEETINGS OF ADVISORY COUNCIL OPEN TO PUBLIC

Ever since assuming office on January 1, 2018, Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has relied upon advisory groups to develop and advance major policy initiatives for the state. Two major advisory groups that come quickly to mind are the Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) Pension Reform Advisory group that formulated major recommendation for changes to the PERA Retirement system and the Legalization of Recreational Marijuana Advisory group that formulated legislation for the creation of an entire new industry. The Governor’s office has also announced that a bipartisan council of mayors is being assembled to provide advice through the governor’s chief of staff, John Bingaman.

The PERA Pension reform advisory group was chaired by one of the Governor’s Chief of Staff, and the Legalization of Recreational Marijuana Advisory group was chaired by an Albuquerque City Councilor. Both the Pension Reform and Recreational Marijuana Advisory Group held meetings that were open to the public and encouraged public participation.

Although it is clear that the Economic Recovery Council the Governor has appointed does not have to follow the requirements of the Open Meetings Act, it is a major mistake for it not to do so. It will have an impact of the credibility of the advisory group and on whatever recommendations that they make to the Governor. The New Mexico Open Meetings Act is motivated by the belief that the democratic ideals are best served by a well-informed public. The open meetings act requires that public business be conducted in full public view, that the actions of public bodies be taken openly, and that the deliberations of public bodies be open to the public.

Nothing can be more public than the discussions and decisions to open New Mexico again for business. During these very difficult times when the Governor is demanding so much sacrifice from the general public that is having a direct impact on their financial wellbeing, it is a major mistake for the Economic Recovery Council to do business and make recommendations behind closed doors. The spirit and intent of the Open Meeting Act needs to be honored by the Economic Advisory Council.

B. POLITICAL GRAND STANDING AT ITS WORST

The actions of Democrat Grants Mayor Martin “Modey” Hicks vowing in defiance to allow all small businesses in Grants to reopen is about as pathetic as it gets seeing as he does not have that authority and the Governor does. The interviews Mayor “Modey”Hicks gave to the news media looked like that of an unhinged fool of New Mexico proportions. His confrontation with a constituent taking issue with him said it all and can be viewed here:

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico-news/emotions-run-high-as-mayor-of-grants-defies-governors-order-allows-businesses-to-reopen/5711810/

Mayor Hicks has fired the city manager and has ordered city hall employees return to work. The voters in Grants need to recognize his antics for what it is: political grand standing at its worst, especially when it was revealed that the protestors included political activists from elsewhere. It was also reported that many businesses in Grants are ignoring the Mayor, which they should. Now that Mayor Hicks has gotten his few minutes of fame, perhaps Attorney General Hector Balderas should take aggressive against Mayor Hicks for his removal from office for his open defiance of the public health orders.

C. REPUBLICAN LAW MAKERS

Republican City Councilor Don Harris has a very well deserved reputation for doing very little, and some would say absolutely nothing, on the City Council and just draws his city council salary without doing any work. He is one of those City Councilors who once he leaves, no one will ever know he ever served, which is the classic definition of a “do nothing” elected official. To use Don Harris’ comments, the only “open discussion” we need to have is the discussion as to why his constituents keep electing this do nothing to the city council. Only now with a pandemic crisis being handled by Mayor Tim Keller and Governor Lujan Grisham does Don Harris decide to pop off and offer his observations.

It appears that Republican lawmakers cannot handle the fact that Governor Lujan Grisham is getting high marks for her handling of the pandemic. The Governor has said that it’s time for New Mexico to consider slowly relaxing its restrictions even though she has extended the current public health orders through May 15. She has made it clear that her Administration is working on detailed plans for reopening the state in phases. But none of that matters to the Republican law makers and they could not care less. The New Mexico Republican House leadership choose to promote a right-wing agenda more concerned about the almighty dollar and not people’s lives and health. They apparently want to reopen the state for business too soon and risk another spike or another wave of reported corona virus cases.

Notwithstanding the progress that is being made to come up with viable plans to reopen the state for business, both Republican House members and Republican Albuquerque City councilors are trying to force the premature opening of the state and the city. The holding of a press conference to release a letter to the Governor and holding a press conference to release a proposed City Council resolution should be called for what they are which is political grandstanding at its worst that stokes the fears of people to get a political advantage and news coverage.

Cool heads must prevail during these very difficult times, but the antics of some elected officials show the opposite. It is totally irresponsible for the Republican law makers to say civil unrest and “social chaos” will soon occur if the state is not reopened for business soon. The Republican lawmakers ignore that New Mexico citizens and businesses are in fact doing their very best to honor the restrictions placed upon them. To invoke images of students getting shot at Kent State during the Viet Nam war was beyond the pale of common decency and it sure hell was not leadership of any kind.